The North

We took advantage of a few days off over Easter to spend some time up north, in the Bay of Islands. We booked a last minute bach in Paihia, about 3.5 hours north of Auckland. 

Paihia sits on the Bay of Islands (a bay with many islands in it), and there's another popular town called Russell, which sits just across the bay. Russell is actually on the mainland, but it's actually easiest to access via ferry. There's a walk-on ferry that goes directly between Paihia and Russell and costs $7 per person, and a car ferry that connects two smaller towns (Opua and Okaito) about 3km south of Paihia and Russell and costs $2 per car (we think that this one ferry might be the only thing that is cheaper in NZ than Canada). More to come on the ferries later.

The dock at Paihia and some islands in the background.

Bird's eye view of Paihia.

On our first morning in Paihia, we learned about a circular walking track that follows the coast and leads you from Paihia to Russell (by way of the car ferry, which can also be walked-on to for the measly price of $1). We decided that it would be a good way to check out some of the local scenery.  

The trek started out with a walk through some mangroves.

Justin was thoroughly impressed by the height of these plants.

We had a few spider sightings, and really hoped that there were none of these hiding in our bach. There is apparently only one type of living entity that can seriously injure you in New Zealand. It's called a white tail spider, and is mildly poisonous. Getting bitten can result in a cellulitis and may require antibiotics.  We didn't see any white on this critter, but we weren't about to take our chances and get too close.

Where's waldo?

While most of the hike was through forest, we did get some nice views of the bay. Here's the view of Opua (off in the distance), where we caught the car ferry over Okaito on the other side of the bay. 

There were lots of signs alerting us to the possible presence of kiwis in the area, but alas we didn't see any (despite calling 'here kiwi kiwi kiwi!' a few times). If only they were less nocturnal.

 

After a hilly finale, we made it to Russell. It's a very cute little town, and all of the buildings are colonial style. It was the perfect place to relax for the afternoon before catching the expensive ferry back to Paihia.

Sunset in Paihia.

The next day, we took a little road trip up to the northern-most point of New Zealand: Cape Reinga. It's about a 3 hour drive from Paihia or a 6 hour drive from Auckland. Cape Reinga is also the point at which the Tasman and Pacific oceans meet. It was pretty neat to look out and see white caps coming from two separate directions and colliding in the middle of the ocean. In addition to its geographic importance, Cape Reinga also has a sacred place in Maori history. When people die, the Maori believe that their spirits depart via the Cape. 

The lighthouse at Cape Reinga.

It's pretty far to everywhere from here. 

Looking back towards the rest of New Zealand.

We felt that we were due for a photo of the two of us.

The beach at Cape Reinga. Not directly accessible by car, but it's about a 2km trek on foot.

Maori spirits leave New Zealand via this little peninsula. There is a lone tree growing from the rocks, and legend has it that spirits slide into the water down a staircase made from its roots. Sounds legitimate. 

After our spiritual awakening, we drove a few clicks south to experience New Zealand's giant sand dunes at a place called Te Paki stream. Sandboarding down the dunes (on a boogie board) has become a popular pastime here, and we were pretty excited to be able to rent some boards and give it a try. It was highly entertaining (and a little bit scary). We're still finding sand in our pockets! We didn't bring our cameras out on the dunes, but managed to snap a couple of photos of them when we got back to the car.

Our last stop for the day was at 90 mile beach, on the west coast (the Tasman ocean side). As it's name suggests, this beach pretty much goes on forever. It's also a registered highway, so cars can actually drive down it. We wanted to give this a try, but were a bit worried that we'd beach our rental vehicle...so we just lived vicariously by watching other people speed down the beach at >100 km/h.

Justin is out there somewhere, playing in the waves.

We're now back in Auckland and looking forward to planning our next adventure. We're now well into fall, although the temperatures of 24 degrees in the Bay of Islands and 20 in Auckland don't feel very autumnal. We've got our fingers crossed that the good weather holds on for a bit longer.